The Joys of Sports & Food… and sometimes at the same time
Chapter 10
When you think about Australia, you might think of the outback, spiders, and maybe Sydney. However, if you visit or live here for any long period of time, you’ll learn that there is a word that will come to your mind LONG before any of those others when thinking about Australia. Sport. Yeah, the Aussies are mad for their sport. Since the weather there is usually the same, the real seasons on the calendar are sport. This is a country so obsessed with sport that when they say they love “the footy” it could be one of FOUR different types of football.
The first is Rugby Union, the world’s rugby. This is where human shaped buildings run at other human shaped buildings from different countries at full speed while carrying a ball. There is the National Rugby League which is very similar to Rugby Union but with slightly different rules and the other teams are just from other states or territories in Australia or one team from New Zealand. The next one is Australian Football League or the AFL. This is less of a sport and more of a Tom Cruise action stunt masterpiece but with a ball and a scoreboard. Then the other is their soccer league. That’s just a taste of their love of sport, don’t even get me started on all the cricket games. This is a country where swimming competitions is primetime television viewing even when it’s NOT at the Olympics.
When Aussies aren’t watching sports, they are playing them. As a student you have to get out amongst it as well. Not only is it good for your health, it’s great for your spirits, and making friends. Sure, you can go to the gym, but there’s nothing like running around a sports pitch with a new friend, or having one pull out three giant books of rules just to explain how batting works in cricket. A game that I still don’t understand.
You’ll have once in a lifetime experiences no matter if it’s watching a classic matchup of Tennis at the Australian Open or wondering if the other team is crazy enough to play the New Zealanders All Blacks team, after they do the Haka. Seriously, if you’ve never seen the Haka, google it. If I saw a team do that at the other side of the pitch, I might just go home or join their team. Hahahaha.
Another plus side to all the working out and playing is that it creates a rumble in the tummy, and everyone comes together for some tucker. (Informal slang word for food…hahahaha) Aussies might not love food as much as sport, but they do love it. They also love trying foods from other countries. I always tell international students that they don’t have to know how to cook everything, but they better have two perfected recipes that give a good representation of home.
Even though we are all students, we can’t all claim to cook the best foods. The Mke nyumbani recipe for mahamri’s is easy to follow and please use it. Not as tough as chapos. This one details quantities so well and they always come our perfect. There is no doubt that the situation will come when you are in Australia that you’ll be invited to a “barbie” (barbecue) or an Alumna’s house for “tea” and you’ll need to bring something. Bring something that leaves a mark of your homeland on their taste buds. Hit them in the yum-maker and you’ll be mates for life. Also, make sure you help out with the washing up after. It’s the polite thing to do and they would do the same if they come over to your place.
Australia gives you an amazing reason to get out and get fit, everyone else is doing it. It’s too easy, mate.
